KAMPALA. Falcons’ Syrus Kiviri
was in the mood to deny UCU Canons a second chance. His former teammates
just wanted to give Desmond Owili a chance to play this year. UCU
defied Falcons, winning 80-76 in overtime at YMCA court on Tuesday
night, to tie the three-match National Basketball League quarterfinal
series at 1-all. The decisive Game Three is on Sunday. Owili’s
one-year ban expires today. Was Owili ever a motivating factor to
survive elimination? “No doubt, we wanted him for at least one
game,” coach Nicholas Natuhereza said. The last time he played for his
club side, the Kenyan centre scored 18 points. That ended in an 82-76 loss to Falcons at the same stage last year and an altercation with an umpire. “We
have beaten UCU with Desmond there so we can do it again,” Stephen
Omony, scorer of a game-high 29 points and 16 rebounds last November,
said. Kiviri’s three with 2.1 seconds of regulation time left tied
the game at 70-up. The shooting guard finished with 20 and Stephen Omony
scored 19 and 12 rebounds. Peter Elungat had 14. The university side
bossed the extra five minutes but didn’t run away even as Kiviri fouled
out. Actually, this result was probably earned much earlier. Falcons had led 38-23 at the end of the second period and increased that to a 16-point advantage. Point
guard Sande Okot and forward Brian Namake, nine points and eight
rebounds forced a 17-point turnaround to help Sudi Ulanga to a game-high
28 points and seven rebounds. However, Ulanga’s conversion rate of 6
for 13 from the field, 4 for 14 from behind the arc and 2 for 8 at the
charity line left a lot to be desired. Natuhereza admitted as much. “We
still haven’t played a great game in my opinion. We still need better.”
The odds will be against them as they have never beaten Falcons in
playoff series. Ivan Lumanyika awoke from his Game One slumber with
25 points and 12 rebounds. Lumanyika will now have support on the inside
in Owili.